the pretty streets of prague

Now for a little descriptive piece...written as I meandered around Prague on a cold winter's day...

Cafe Gourmand, Rytířská, Prague

4pm

The cool wind of approaching winter whips around me as I sit, huddling, a solitary figure on a small cafe terrace on Rytířská.  I clutch my tiny, overpriced cappuccino for warmth, but its last embers slowly ebb away as I drain the cup.  It's my own fault, my decision to sit outside on this fresh November afternoon.  

But I love the atmosphere of a European city, especially on its cobbled streets; to people watch; to admire the majestic buildings, a hodgepodge of eras - Baroque style theatre to my left, Art Deco style bank to my right.  Locals hurrying along with their Christmas shopping, tourists ambling about holding maps at jaunty angles, trying to make sense of the Czech street names.

The chill of late afternoon is settling in now, the sun of the crisp day quietly fading behind the parapets, the cobblestones now barely dappled with light.  

Quickly I devour my warm, goulash soup before it too succumbs to winter's bite.  Walking back to the hotel is a tour through a winter wonderland.  Despite the multitude of shoppers and tourists, the streets are surprisingly hushed.  Small market stalls decked with holly wreaths sell their kitschy wares - gingerbread, woolly hats, wooden dolls - huddled cosily below a large building transformed into a giant advent calendar, with huge glistening numbers in its windows.

I cross the crystal clear waters of the Danube, admiring its gentle beauty, yet imagining the freezing sensation if I were to fall in...only this summer had I taken a dip in its waters, but the thought of it now brings a shudder to my shoulders.  

As I meander, I idly wonder what gives the streets of Prague that particularly European flavour, so different to any street in England.  It isn't the cobbles, nor the old-fashioned streetlamps.  Nor the trams snaking through like giant caterpillars, nor its mismatching architecture.  And suddenly I put my finger on it - the cars are parked at an angle to the road, rather than parallel.  You'd find the same in Lyon, or Milan, or Budapest. That's exactly it!